Sundried Tomato Spread, by Diane

This week I made turkey burgers and I wanted some kind of sauce on them. I decided I wanted to make a pesto, and I knew I had two bags of sundried tomatoes, so I set out to create a sundried tomato pesto. The problem was that when I got home from the grocery store I forgot pine nuts and parmesan, so I thought I could just wing it. But when I tasted the "pesto" it was way too tart so I looked in the pantry for something to even it out and came across tahini. The end result is a mash up of hummus and a sundried tomato pesto which I am dubbing a "spread" because when you create your own wacky recipe and write a blog about it you need to call it something... I think this would work with other fun flavors as well!

Ingredients:

1 cup sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup smoked sundried tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 handful basil leaves
1/2 cup tahini
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp dried parsley

Directions:

Blend in a food processor until creamy, adjust the ingredients as necessary!

Lavender Potatoes, by Diane

Before- look how pretty these are!!

After- YUM.

Recently, my parents went to Canada and brought back a container of lavender sea salt. I love any new kind of salt or spice, so I was anxious to use this one! I've already used it in my homemade mylks, with yummy results. The container said to try it on roasted potatoes or meats, and so this weekend I set out to get some potatoes. I found the most beautiful pink and purple potatoes at the farmers market, and decided to stick with the color scheme! These were so easy and really delicious! You can make your own lavender sea salt simply by buying dried lavender and mixing it in to coarse sea salt (there should be way more salt then lavender!). The coarseness of the sea salt in this blend was great because it coated the potatoes along with the garlic and made a salty crust!

Ingredients:

Potatoes (any variety, cut into small pieces and unpeeled)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1.5 tsp lavender sea salt


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Spray a baking dish with some oil or nonstick spray and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, toss all ingredients well until coated and pour onto the baking dish. Make sure there is space between the potatoes.

4. Roast the potatoes for 20 min, then flip and continue cooking until softened.

Superfood Granola, by Diane

This was my first attempt at making granola. I saw this on the instagram of @themindfulblonde, and she posted the ingredients but not a recipe (except bake it at 400 for 20 min). I figured I was shooting for a texture and flavor, and how hard could that be? I really liked the use of all the superfood ingredients I already add to my daily smoothies or drinks. I also find that granola is typically loaded with bad fats and the first few ingredients tend to be a sweetener, which is not the case here.

This came out fairly good! I needed to make it even more of a sticky consistency than I thought, and I also thought 20 min was a little too long as some of the granola got slightly burned. I've adjusted all of the things I did below:


Ingredients:

4 cups quick oats
1/2 cup brown rice flour (she used almond flour but I had this on hand and it was more nutritious)
4 heaping tbsp of collagen powder
6 heaping tbsp of flax seeds, chia seeds, and chocolate protein powder (I use Philosophie's Cacao Magic and it is AMAZING!!)
2 heaping tbsp of cacao nibs
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup slightly melted coconut oil
1/4 cup dark maple syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Add all the ingredients together and mix through, making sure the wet ingredients mix completely into all of the dry ingredients.

3. Check for sweetness, chocolatey flavor, and texture. You want to be able to taste the sweet and chocolate coming through since the oats and rice powders are bland and so is milk. For texture, you want it to stick together so that when the moisture cooks out in the oven it breaks into chunks. Adjust ingredients as needed- if too dry add more coconut oil or maple syrup depending on the sweetness.

4. Prepare a baking sheet with foil and coat with nonstick spray or more coconut oil. Pour the granola onto the baking sheet and spread evenly, then pat down so the granola gets compact (you want it in chunks at the end!).

5. Bake for 15-20 min (check to make sure it is golden and not burned), then break into chunks. Let cool by placing the foil onto a drying rack and store in an airtight container.

Sweet Potato, Sausage, Egg Casserole, by Cheryl

Holy moly this is good! I first made this during Passover last year since it has no yeast or bread in it and I forgot how good it was. We were having friends over the other day for brunch and I decided to make this since one of them is gluten free. I am definitely going to make this again and keep it in the fridge for the week. It's easy and healthy! Yum!

Ingredients (recipe from here):

1 red pepper, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 lb sausage (I used Italian sweet sausage)
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
8 eggs
1/3 cup milk, or almond milk
salt
pepper
olive oil

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375. Cook the red pepper and onion in a little bit of oil over medium heat for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

2) Add sausage to the skillet and cook until browned, crumbling the sausage with the spoon as it cooks. Transfer to the large mixing bowl.

3) Add sweet potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, and cover with lid. Let it cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until potatoes are tender. Transfer to the large mixing bowl.

4) In a separate bowl beat the eggs, milk, and some salt and pepper. Pour over the veggie and sausage mix and mix together.

5) Pour the mixture in a baking dish (9x13) and bake covered for 20-25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes.

Easy Apple Cobber, by Cheryl

This recipe came up on my twitter feed from Cooking Light and I was intrigued. I have a ton of apples left over from Rosh Hashanah and wanted to make something sweet and easy! This was definitely easy, but I'm not sure how this would be a healthy recipe with all of the sugar and flour in it! But maybe it's lighter than a regular apple cobbler would be? Who knows? All I know is that if I ever need an easy fall recipe I will be cooking this up because it was DELICIOUS!!! Top it off with some ice cream on top and you have a great tasting dessert. Yum!

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh Granny Smith apples (about 4-5 apples), peeled, cored, and sliced (I used Gala)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375. Combine apples, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and mix.

2) In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt.

3) Pour melted butter along the bottom of a 7x11 baking dish. Spread apple mixture in an even layer over the butter, then pour the flour mixture over the apples. Do not stir together.

4) Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes or until cobbler is brown and bubbly. I had to cook a little longer because my dish was shorter and not as shallow.